Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
In this sequel to 2015’s Jurassic World, Isla Nublar is about to be destroyed by an eruption on its huge volcano, and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) has founded the Dinosaur Protection Group, an organisation with a self explanatory name. The situation on the former site of Jurassic World has raised an ethical issue: should the world stand by and let dinosaurs become extent again, or treat them as any other endangered species and do something about the situation on the tropical island.
In his very short appearance at the beginning of the film (he also briefly appears near the end), Dr. Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) opines that nature should take its course and humans shouldn’t intervene, but Claire things they should rescue the dinosaurs and take them to a new island built by Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell), a former business partner of John Hammond, and seeks the assistance of Owen Grady (Chris Pratt). In a separate plot line, Hammond’s assistant, Eli (Rafe Spall) who is working with a group seeking to weaponise dinosaur DNA for military use.
My ability to properly critique this film was somewhat hampered by the cinema as the sound quality in the first 20 minutes was appalling, with the frequency too high to properly here what people said if they shouted. The sound then dropped out altogether and a couple of people alerted cinema staff. The problem was solved and film was taken back 10 minutes, but not after I was suitably narked.
Anyway, the film has many different tones and allusions depending on location and characters; it sometimes evokes a haunted house film like The Haunting, sometimes The Island of Lost Souls, and sometimes a good old monster movie! I was largely underwhelmed by Jurassic World at the cinema, though a second viewing at home left me surprisingly impressed. This was the opposite as, the sound issues aside, I really liked what I saw and heard; I’ve really liked what JA Bayona has done previously and thought this had a very strong characterisation, moral dilemmas and scares – the move to concentrate more on the horror aspects and there are some scenes which, because of the lighting and framing, have a real Gothic sense to them, making the dinosaurs much more frightening than in most of the previous films in the series. I’d like to go watch it again at the cinema, hopefully without any sound issues!
The Incredibles
After The Iron Giant (a film I really like) was a relative flop at the box office, Brad Bird began working on a homage to the superhero and spy films and comics of the 1950s and 1960s. Following 2003’s Finding Nemo was a tough ask, but Bird had the luxury of developing this with his own staff and not being part of the Pixar ‘system’.
The premise of the film is a relatively simple one: superheroes are real and part of everyday life because they use their powers to stop crime. However, when the balance of the harm they prevent is outweighed by the collateral damage they cause in the course of crime prevention, they are no longer wanted by society so are given secret identities and mundane jobs. One of the superheroes, Bob Parr, someone with superhuman strength is incredibly bored at processing insurance claims every day so, unbeknownst to his wife, Helen (a woman with an elastic body), he goes crime fighting with his best friend, Lucius Best (a.k.a. Frozone, someone who can freeze any moisture) under the pretense of bowling or some other social activity. When Bob is fired for losing his temper and punching his boss through a series of walls, he is contacted by a mysterious woman who offers him a lot of money to destroy a machine on a remote island. Once again becoming Mr Incredible, Bob completes his mission and is offered more opportunities to use his powers, opportunities he seizes with both hands because he loves the adrenaline rush.
Unbeknownst to him, Bob has been part of research by someone called Buddy Pine, someone he encountered when Buddy was a child and wanted nothing to do with his enthusiasm for all things super. Now grown up, Buddy is a genius inventor who wants to use his gadgets to become a superhero called Syndrome. Unbeknownst to him, on his latest mission, Bob’s new costume sends out a distress signal and Helen, plus their two superhuman children, fly to the island and battle between the Parr family and Syndrome commences…
I’m not sure why, but I really didn’t like this at the cinema and it’s a film which has grown on me over the years to the point where I consider it Pixar’s second best film (behind Toy Story 2) and one I really enjoy. This latest viewing only confirmed my previous thoughts because I had a blast and can’t wait for the sequel.
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